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It's easy to optimize product to cut costs, or put more engineers on the project and add features. What's truly difficult is reduction. Removing "features" and

by grinich 17y ago

It's easy to optimize product to cut costs, or put more engineers on the project and add features. What's truly difficult is reduction. Removing "features" and simplifying the product. The success of the iPad and iPhone is not about what it-- it's about all the things it doesn't do.

stanleydrew 17y ago
Yes I've heard lots of people toe the Apple company line on simplifying before. But I thought we were talking about whether or not there is smartphone competition. If you want to believe there is nothing that can truly compete with the iPhone because of its magical UI or lack of features or whatever I can't prevent that. Yes, it's true, the iPhone is the only iPhone in existence. But in that sense nothing can compete with Android either. Nobody else is producing an open-source smartphone os even close to its quality. If you get specific enough, everything is in a category of its own without any competition. My original comment has nothing to do with whether Apple has produced the perfect mobile os by reducing and removing features. It has to do with the statement that Apple has no real competition.
- angusgr 17y ago
  "If you get specific enough, everything is in a category of its own without any competition." Of course. The problem the parent is describing is that the smartphone market, the person on the street with an iPhone, who doesn't have a clue what "objective see" is, has his/her own specific criteria for buying a phone, and so far they seem to line up with Apple's criteria pretty well. Android can compete on features, price, openness, open-source, goat-teleport-count, or any other metric they can find. It won't be "real competition", in this sense, until ordinary people find reasons to actually buy it in large numbers.
  - binspace 17y ago
    Good thing Android sales are on track to surpass the iPhone. http://industry.bnet.com/technology/10005344/android-unit-sales-catching-iphones/ http://industry.bnet.com/technology/10005344/android-unit-sa... +1 for openness.

by grinich 17y ago

stanleydrew 17y ago

Yes I've heard lots of people toe the Apple company line on simplifying before. But I thought we were talking about whether or not there is smartphone competition. If you want to believe there is nothing that can truly compete with the iPhone because of its magical UI or lack of features or whatever I can't prevent that. Yes, it's true, the iPhone is the only iPhone in existence. But in that sense nothing can compete with Android either. Nobody else is producing an open-source smartphone os even close to its quality. If you get specific enough, everything is in a category of its own without any competition. My original comment has nothing to do with whether Apple has produced the perfect mobile os by reducing and removing features. It has to do with the statement that Apple has no real competition.

angusgr 17y ago
"If you get specific enough, everything is in a category of its own without any competition." Of course. The problem the parent is describing is that the smartphone market, the person on the street with an iPhone, who doesn't have a clue what "objective see" is, has his/her own specific criteria for buying a phone, and so far they seem to line up with Apple's criteria pretty well. Android can compete on features, price, openness, open-source, goat-teleport-count, or any other metric they can find. It won't be "real competition", in this sense, until ordinary people find reasons to actually buy it in large numbers.
- binspace 17y ago
  Good thing Android sales are on track to surpass the iPhone. http://industry.bnet.com/technology/10005344/android-unit-sales-catching-iphones/ http://industry.bnet.com/technology/10005344/android-unit-sa... +1 for openness.